- A new study shows that anthropomorphizing AI as an “employee” or “teammate” within a business can lead to many unintended negative consequences.
- Companies are increasingly including AI agents in organizational charts, giving them names, job titles, and even treating them as official team members.
- In a survey of 1,261 managers and leaders in the US, Canada, and the EU, 31% reported their companies call AI a “teammate” or “employee,” and 23% have put AI on the organizational chart.
- An example cited is “Scout,” an AI in HR that automatically screens resumes, conducts first-round interviews, and recommends candidates like a junior recruiter.
- However, the research found that when AI is viewed as an employee, the level of human personal responsibility drops by 9 percentage points, while responsibility shifted onto AI increases by 8 percentage points.
- Employees begin blaming the AI instead of the humans managing the system when errors occur, blurring accountability boundaries within the organization.
- Viewing AI as a colleague also increases the demand to escalate work to superiors for double-checking by 44%, creating extra review layers and reducing productivity.
- Participants found 18% fewer errors when documents were labeled as created by an “AI employee” instead of an “AI tool.”
- The study links this to “AI brain fry”—a state of mental fatigue from excessive AI supervision, making employees more likely to miss critical errors.
- Managers also feel more job insecurity: concerns about job loss rose by 7%, while trust in how companies deploy AI fell by 10%.
- Some employees feel that including AI in the organizational chart makes them feel their roles could be completely replaced.
- Notably, the study concludes that anthropomorphizing AI does not significantly help increase AI adoption within businesses.
- The factor that truly drives more effective AI use comes from direct leaders actively leading by example and integrating AI into daily work.
- The report recommends that businesses clearly define human responsibility, redesign workflows, and view AI as an automation tool rather than a “real employee.”
📌 Conclusion: Research shows that calling AI an “employee” can erode personal responsibility, reduce work quality checks, and create insecurity within the organization. Although AI agents are becoming more autonomous and intelligent, experts suggest businesses should view AI as a support system rather than a peer to humans. A survey of 1,261 leaders shows that the trend of anthropomorphizing AI is spreading but does not significantly help increase adoption. The true value of AI will come from redesigning human roles, increasing oversight capacity, and keeping final responsibility with real employees.
